The Arizona sentinel., 1887-02-19
HOW MUSIC IS MADE.
Erar inntiOn of the Manuscripts hy an Ex-
 perienced Salaried Inspector.

| EIaU inntiOn of the Manuscripts hy an Ex- | perienced Salaried Inspector.
 1.-The way to cook rabbit is to first catch rabbit," etc., applies forcibly to the initial process of producing a mu- sical composition in sheet form, and it may he further added that manuscripts worth publishing are as hard to secure as the traditional rabbit. As all large music publishing concerns are con stantly in receipt of manuscripts sent for examination and sale, it becomes necessary to inspect each composition us soon as possible, otherwise they would accumulate to such an extent that a separate examination would be next tu impossible.
 For fhis purpose is employed a thoroughly educated and practical mu- sician, che who not only performs at sight, out who is also master of har- mony and composition. After care fully trying over each piece and noting his opinion thereon, the result may be the selection of one or two manuscripts out of perhaps fifty, the balance being l marked rejected"
 We will suppose that one of the pieces recommended by the inspector is a song The publisher now holds manuscript which in the opinion of his inspector is worth publishing, that is, it has some points of excellence that might result in the piece becoming popular The next step is to read the letter sent by the writer of the song, and if the auther's demands are deemed reasonable his terms are ac- cepted ..nd the song is put in hand, not, however, before the publisher has first sati sfied himself that the words are correct and suitable and that the title is not already in use.
 The manuscript is then taken by the elgravei, who, seated at his table, be- gins the work of transferring to metal plates the copy before him. For this pun pose he employs hammer and m1ltitude of small steel dies, each one of which represents a charac- ter of music, in fact, every thing from a brace to double-bar, and from a grace note to a "sixty-fourth, besides rests, slurs, crescendos and full set of the alphabet in various sizes, such as agate, nonpareil, primer, etc.
 Upon the table before him rests a siao of iron about two feet square by tw O inches thick. This is the anvil CD on which is laid the metal plate afore- mentioned. The latter is composed of white metal, and is one-sixteenth of an inch in thickness. The surface is high silver With the aid of compasses, rules and other peculiar tools the lines, ba1s, etc, are laid out, after which the engrayer proceeds to fill in the music and words, and thus each plate is treated until the song is finished.
 While the music engraver is busy with his manuscript and dies, the title sngraver is not idle. By a process ex- actly similar to bank note or steel en- graving this individual prepares the title, which, as an obvious necessity, must be entirely original in design, both in lettering and ornamentation. The metal plates used for titles are the same as those used for music.
 The music plates and title being finished, proofs are taken from them and submitted to- the music inspector, who carefully examines every page and makes the necessary corrections, after which they are returned to the en- glaver. The latter individual having made the designated changes or addi- tions, passes the plates to the superin- tendent of the press-room. where they are in turn given to the pressman.
 The press used is the same as en- ployed in steel plate printing, and can, therefore only be worked by hand. The process is necessarily slow and tedious, but it is the only method by which frst-clsss sheet music can be made. After the music is printed the music sheets, which are still wet, are hung upon racks to dry. The drying pro cess consumes about two or three hours, when they are taken down, folded, and put if. press where they are usually left oyer night. In the morning they are taken out and we have before us 8 pile of elegant plate music, ''the latest song of the season" Plate" editions will always be preferred by all who ap- preciate music that can be easily read; in fact, to those accustomed to plate work ''type music" seems like no music. -MuSicdL Journal.
 TILE cAMRNuIOL MAN